Considering the world's ship-building for 1901, the number of vessels, the tonnage, and indicated horse-power for the year will be found in the following table:

WORLD'S SHIP-BUILDING FOR 1901 AND 1900.

There was a great increase in tonnage launched from yards in the United States. In the accompanying table the number of sailing vessels and steamships, together with their tonnage, is given, and the output of each yard in 1901 and 1900, the totals showing an increase of 99,159 tons. The year has been one of prosperity to American ship-builders, and the industry is apparently being established on a firmer basis, which will be aided, so the builders say, by the passage of proper subsidy laws. An attempt was made during the year to organize a combination of ship-building interests,

but was unsuccessful. Progress was made on the four large Pacific steamers under construction at New London, Conn., in the yards of the Eastern Ship-building Company, and a new and extensive plant is planned for erection on the Gulf coast. The output of the American Ship-building Company during the year amounted to 81,681 tons, an amount exceeded only by Harland & Wolff, Belfast, Ireland, with 92,316 tons, and by W. Gray & Co., of Hartlepool, England, with 82,262 tons. The American Ship-building Company owns yards at Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and West Superior, at which were built during 1901, 22 steamers having an aggregate tonnage of 81,681 tons and an indicated horse-power of 37,760.

The Bureau of Navigation reported that during the six months ended on December 31, 1901, there were constructed in the United States and officially numbered, 717 rigged vessels of 154,073 gross tons, compared with 568 rigged vessels of 179,229 gross tons for the corresponding six months of 1900, exclusive of canal-boats and unrigged barges. A decline of 19,752 tons occurred on the Atlantic seaboard, and is explained by the fact that the energies of large yards were being concentrated on several large ocean steamships to be completed in the first half of 1902. The six months' figures include 38 vessels, each over 1,000 tons, and aggregating 103.832 tons. Of these fourteen are steel steamships, aggregating 52,310 tons, built on the Great Lakes. Four for the seaboard are the two banana steamships Watson and Buckman, each of 1,820 tons, the Hugoma, 2,182 tons, and the Minnetonka, 5,270 tons. The Minnetonka will be cut in two to pass the canals. There were constructed on the seaboard 15 wooden schooners of 24,864 tons, five steel steamships for the coasting trade, and one steel ferryboat, aggregating 20,964 tons. The square-rigged vessels are the steel ship William P. Frye, 3,374 tons, and two barkentines on the Pacific, aggregating 2,310 tons.

The Bureau of Navigation Report for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1901, includes the following summary of vessels over 1,000 tons built in the United States and officially documented during that period:

SHOOTING. In 1901 the annual contests of the National Rifle Association of America, held at Sea Girt, N. J., took on exceptional interest from the presence of two international teams, one from Ireland and one from Canada, an event which had not happened since 1877. In the 6 events America, for the first time, lost an international Match. The scores in the Irish-American contest were: 800 yds., Irish team 556, American 560; 900 yds., 549 and 515 respectively; 1,000 yds., 1,618 and 1,558. In the Canadian-American contest for the Palma trophy, the scores were: 800 yds., Canadians 532, Americans 525; 900 yds., 519 each; 1,000 yds., 1,522 and 1,494 respectively. The Hilton trophy was won by the District of Columbia from ten teams of 12 men each, making 1,098 on the three targets at 200, 500, and 600 yds. The Wimbledon cup, at 1,000 yds., was won by Captain William B. Martin, Second Regiment, N. J., with a score of 137. The Essex troop and Pennsylvania tied at 205 for the carbine team match at 200 and 500 yds., and Battery A, Light Artillery, Mass., won the revolver match, 10 shots, at 25, 50, and 75 yds., with a score of 596. These performances were nearly all below the average, and all the American marksmen showed lack of target practice. In trap-shooting an American team, which shot at the Middlesex Gun Club, England, June 11-13, 1901, more than redeemed the national reputation, shooting at clay birds, with single barrel; as against the English double barrel, the Americans scored 2,587 out of a possible 3,000, as against the English score of 2,344. In the annual championships of the United States Revolver Association at Sea Girt, N. J., Dr. R. H. Sayre, New York, won the military revolver competition with 325 out of a possible 375; Thomas Anderson, Boston, the pistol, with 453 out of a possible 500.

SIAM, an independent kingdom embracing part of the Indo-Chinese and part of the Malay peninsula. The capital is Bangkok.

Area and Population.—The boundaries have been changed so often that the exact area of the country is not definitely known, but it is estimated at about 200,000 square miles. According to the Anglo-French agreement of 1896, the integrity of all the territory in the basins of the Menam, Mekong, Pechaburi, and Bangpakong

707

Siberia.

rivers, and an extensive region to the north of the Menam, was assured to Siam. There is no census of the population, which is variously estimated at from 5,000,000 to 12,000,000, half of the latter figure probably being a conservative estimate. About 2,500,000 of the inhabitants are Siamese, and between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 Malays and Chinese; the latter are increasing rapidly. Bangkok has about 250,000 inhabitants. Siamese is the official language of the kingdom and Buddhism the prevailing religion. The government supports both primary and high schools, and their efficiency and number is being increased continually.

Government and Finance.-The executive power is exercised by the king (Chulalongkorn I., who succeeded to the throne October 1, 1868), advised by a cabinet appointed by him and an appointed legislative council. There is a standing army of 5,000 men and a navy of 22 small vessels.

The principal sources of revenue are the taxes on imports, opium, spirits, and gambling. The revenue, according to the budget of 1900-01, was 36,760,000 ticals, or about £2,162,000. The tical is a silver coin worth 60 per cent. of a Mexican dollar, or 27.84 cents, on October 1, 1901. The estimates of revenue for the year 1901-02 were £2,130,000, and expenditure £2,284,457. In spite of this apparent deficit, the finances, which are under the control of an Englishman, who acts as comptrollergeneral, are in a healthy condition, and the import duties are increasing rapidly. The government is gradually abolishing its tax on lotteries and gambling establishments, which in 1900 furnished about one-fifth of the entire revenue. In some of the provinces such institutions have already been declared illegal. A new issue of government notes in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 100, and 1,000 ticals was begun in September, 1901, with the idea of unifying the monetary system and replacing the private bank notes already in circulation. There is no public debt, and in 1899 there was a cash balance in the treasury of 25,000,000 ticals, including a sum of £200,000 invested in British consols.

Industry and Commerce.-The principal products are teakwood, of which Siam produces one-fourth of the world's output, rice, sandalwood, rosewood, fruits, and garden products. The total imports amounted in 1899 to £2,532,137 and the exports to £3,123,775, the largest item in the latter being rice, which was valued at £2,223,953. The teak exported was valued at £323,867. Eighty-five per cent. of the foreign trade passed through the port of Bangkok. Industry is in a low state of development, owing to the condition of the inhabitants, who are still virtually serfs, although the government has recently adopted measures for the amelioration of their condition. Communications.-Railway construction in the past few years has progressed rapidly. The first railway, from Bangkok to Paknam (14 miles), was opened in 1893. A road from Bangkok to Korat, 165 miles, was opened in November, 1900, forming the first section of a main trunk line, which it is proposed to build to the north. The branch road from Bangkok to Lapburi was opened in January, 1901, and a third section, about 100 miles in length, running west to Ratburi, and thence south down the peninsula, is being constructed.

History. Negotiations with France over the unsettled boundary between Siam and French Indo-China were in progress during the latter part of 1901 in Bangkok. Siam was willing to make substantial sacrifices to obtain a final settlement, but two former attempts at settlement since 1893 have come to naught. The British view, as expressed in the London Spectator, is that France has no intention of giving up any of her demands, but is determined to build up an Indian empire at the expense of Siam. The principal points in dispute are the limitation of French and Siamese territory of Luang Prabang, the restoration of Siam's civil jurisdiction in the neutral zone along the Mekong River, the French occupation of Chentabun, and the grant of commercial privileges to France in the valley of the Mekong. The chief obstacle to a satisfactory settlement seems to be the difference as to Chentabun, the evacuation of which by the French is insisted upon by Siam. The British look upon the steady encroachment of France upon Siamese territory with alarm, considering it of the utmost importance that Siam be preserved in its integrity to act as a buffer state between Indo-China and British Burma.

SIBERIA, a part of Asiatic Russia, has an estimated area of 4,833,496 square miles. The population, which, according to the census of 1897, was 5,727,090, has probably increased to about 7,000,000, largely by reason of recent heavy immigration and the development of railroads and mines in the last few years. The largest cities are Tomsk, Irkutsk, Blagovestchensk, and Vladivostok. This city, which is the terminal port of the Trans-Siberian Railway system, has assumed international importance. According to the census of 1897 it had 28,896 inhabitants, a number that is possibly doubled at the present time. It is to be made a Russian naval station. Of the population of Siberia, 4,950,000 are Slavic; the remainder is composed of Tartars, Armenians, Lithuanians, and other Asiatic races. The immigration from Russia, which has averaged 250,000 a year, was over 200,000 for the first six months of 1901 alone.